Why is Osaurus free?

"If something is free, you are the product." It is a fair rule of thumb.

When people find Osaurus, a native app that runs AI agents on their own computer at no cost, the first question is usually some version of: what is the catch?

A Reddit user asked our founder exactly that. His answer, in short: there is no catch, and the reason is how the product is built, not generosity.

Free because it costs us nothing to give away

Most AI products are expensive to run because every question you ask runs on the company's servers. They pay for that compute, so they need your subscription, or your data.

Osaurus is built the other way around. With a local model, the model, your files, your agents' memory, and your tools all run on your computer's own chip. When you use local AI through Osaurus, our costs do not go up. There is no server bill to cover, so the local product needs no subscription, and we have no reason to collect your data.

"The whole point is that you own this stuff instead of renting it from someone."

Do not take our word for it

• Open source, MIT licensed. The entire codebase is public on GitHub. Anyone can read what the app does.
• No account. You do not need an email address or a password to use the app.
• It works offline. Load a local model, turn off the Wi-Fi, and keep working.
• Analytics you can turn off. The app sends anonymous usage analytics and crash reports. They never include your chats, prompts, keys, or files, and you can turn each one off in Settings. Every event is documented.

So how will the company survive?

Also a fair question. Free products from companies with no income tend to disappear, or start charging for what used to be free. Here is the model.

Everything that runs locally stays free. That is the commitment, and the MIT license makes it enforceable: even if Osaurus, Inc. vanished tomorrow, the software is yours and the community can carry it forward.

Revenue comes from optional extras that cost us money to run, including Osaurus Cloud credits for frontier models and Workspaces for teams. If you never use those, you never pay, and the local product stays complete.

Others already work this way

This is not a new bet. Many local AI and open-source products follow the same shape: the local core is free, and optional hosted services fund development.

It keeps our interests in line with yours. We only earn when we run something worth paying for, not by locking up what you already have.

Common questions

Is Osaurus free?

Yes. The app, local models, agents, plugins, and updates are free and MIT licensed, with no trial and no caps on local use. Osaurus Cloud credits are paid because they cost real server time, and Workspaces for teams is a paid plan.

Will local features become paid later?

No. Anything that runs locally stays free. The MIT license means this promise does not depend only on trusting us.

Do you sell my data?

No. With local models, your chats, files, and prompts stay on your computer. If you choose a cloud model, that request goes to the provider under its terms.

Why was my first response slow?

The first message after you load a large model is slower, because the model is loading into memory. Later replies are faster. If it stays slow, try a smaller model for your computer's memory, or ask in Discord for help choosing one.

What does it run on?

Mac: Apple Silicon (M1 or later) with macOS 15.5 or later. Windows: public beta on the Microsoft Store, for Windows 11 on x64 or ARM64. Cloud models work on any of those PCs. Local models want a graphics card with 8 GB of video memory and 16 GB of RAM.